海角大神

Eight years have passed since award-winning writer and professor Lysley Tenorio debuted his stupendous collection, 鈥淢onstress.鈥� Born in the Philippines, Tenorio now lives in San Francisco, where he completed his highly anticipated first novel, 鈥淭he Son of Good Fortune,鈥澛� which was published July 7. Like his earlier work, it offers another fierce, revelatory literary experience.

The titular son is Filipino-American Excel Maxino. His name, chosen by his mother Maxima, is part of his family鈥檚 鈥渓ong tradition of giving children names that suggested good fortunes to come.鈥� Far-flung relatives held such hopeful monikers as 鈥淕uggenheim, Beethoven, even ... Harvard and MIT.鈥� At 19, Excel鈥檚 good fortune hasn鈥檛 yet arrived. His birth father is absent and dissolute and he鈥檚 lost the only other paternal figure he鈥檚 ever had. His mother constantly struggles to avoid sinking into poverty. He鈥檚 spent his childhood virtually alone. H鈥檚 lost his pregnant girlfriend, and, well ... now he owes $10,000 for causing a careless accident.

Excel鈥檚 troubles began almost two decades earlier, when a pregnant Maxima realized that she couldn鈥檛 rely on his father. So she abandoned her action-film career in Manila 鈥� 鈥淚 could have been the Michelle Yeoh of the Philippines,鈥� she insists 鈥� to give her unborn child a better life in the United States. Her former martial arts teacher and mentor, Joker, sponsors her escape to America. While in transit to San Francisco, the plane鈥檚 turbulence induces Maxima鈥檚 labor and she gives birth in flight. Excel鈥檚 sky-high arrival, however, doesn鈥檛 warrant him U.S. citizenship. In a riff on the conventional immigrant novel 鈥� which features bicultural protagonists tied to two countries, departed and arrived 鈥� Tenorio adds a clever twist by creating a citizen of nowhere: Excel is always in limbo, both legally and figuratively.

On Excel鈥檚 10th birthday, Maxima finally reveals the truth: 鈥溾�榃e鈥檙e not supposed to be here,鈥欌�� she explains. 鈥溾�榊ou and me ... are TNT. ... It stands for 鈥渢ago ng tago,鈥� which means 鈥渉iding and hiding.鈥澛燜or Maxima, being TNT means no driver鈥檚 license, no decent-paying job, no mobility. Instead, she scams lonely men online, who are desperate to pay for any sort of connection with 鈥淕ood Catholic Filipinas.鈥� 鈥溾�業 only take what I need,鈥欌�� she eventually confesses to Excel. 鈥溾�楨nough to make rent, pay the bills.鈥欌��

But for Excel, being TNT relegates him to near invisibility. He鈥檚 unable to get medical care for a bad fall, he鈥檚 wary of lasting friendships, he can鈥檛 go to college, and, worst of all, he鈥檚 forced to let Joker die alone after a sudden heart attack. Stuck in an abusive, under-the-table job, Excel decides he needs to start his own life away from his mother. After falling in love with peripatetic Sab, he accompanies her to Hello City, a desert commune hundreds of miles from home. The lovers stay in a refurbished school bus; while Sab makes organic soap with her cousin, Excel finds odd jobs here and there. Excel is surprisingly content ... but nine months later, his new life literally goes up in flames, sending him away from Sab and back to Maxima. Faced with substantial debt, not to mention potential fatherhood, Excel confronts a daunting future with limited resources. Hiding is no longer an option 鈥� and his situation may push him to reach an understanding with his mother.聽

Tenorio has written a resonant story about what one family is willing to do to 鈥減rotect the child.鈥� It鈥檚 seamlessly interwoven with cogent explorations of hybrid identity, racism, immigration history, shifting familial bonds, parental sacrifice, socioeconomic disparity, and even alternative social models.聽

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Trump administration could not rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy on an accelerated schedule, bringing DREAMers back into headlines. That attention should give Tenorio鈥檚 affecting novel a well-deserved boost; he humanizes the lives imperiled by shifting immigration policies. 鈥溾�榊ou know how to survive,鈥欌�� Maxima reminds Excel. 鈥溾�業 learned it from you,鈥欌�� he acknowledges. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l be strong ... you鈥檒l be good, be the best,鈥� she insists, as she wills him to become 鈥淭he Son of Good Fortune.鈥�

Terry Hong writes BookDragon, a book blog for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.